About me, Southwestern US

Uncovering my inner umbraphile – total solar eclipse 2024

Diana

When I asked Pat what he wanted to do for his birthday this year, he answered immediately and without hesitation: travel to see the total solar eclipse!

For perspective, Pat’s birthday is at the end of April, and I typically ask him this question in January because he’s usually quite indecisive. Given the certainty in his answer this time, I started planning our trip that very same day.

Unfortunately for us, many people started planning much earlier, and it quickly became apparent that, no matter where we went, this trip was going to be pricey. I had no idea eclipse tourism was such a popular thing. As I looked up flights and hotels and rental cars and began adding up the cost, the trip felt further and further out of reach.

That is, until we looked more closely at the eclipse map and realized that my aunt, uncle, and cousin live in the path of totality. In fact, my cousin’s house was smack dab in the middle of it! And since we would have a place to stay and wouldn’t have to rent a car, it made swallowing the – frankly, outrageous – price tag for the plane tickets a bit less unpleasant.

We left Denver bright dark and early Friday morning and landed in Dallas a few minutes later than planned after the pilots had to perform a go-around maneuver. It was the first time we’d ever experienced that and, to be honest, it’s not something we’re eager to repeat. There was definitely a massive flood of adrenaline when the engines suddenly revved up to full capacity and the plane abruptly began to climb while the flaps and landing gear were all the way down.

Luckily, it was just an air traffic control issue and we landed safely about ten minutes later.

We spent the next three days hanging out with my aunt, uncle, and cousin, complete with cats, pizza, plenty of coffee and sangria, a backyard bonfire, a hike, and lots of laughter.

Maddie and Teddy say hello
Trinity River
Blackjack oak tree
Termite trails on a dead tree
Lewisville Lake

We also kept a close eye on the weather forecast, which was vacillating all over the place and giving us plenty of anxiety. About a week out, it had predicted heavy rain all day. Two days later, it was showing sunshine. Then we were back to rain. Then scattered thunderstorms. Then clouds. About a day before, the forecast seemed stabilize slightly and local weathermen were reporting with a fairly high degree of confidence that it would be partly cloudy. Exactly what type of clouds remained more difficult to predict, though, with a roughly 50/50 chance of high clouds vs. low clouds.

I can’t remember which option was better, but luckily it’s the one we ended up with!

We gathered in my cousin’s backyard shortly before noon on Monday, with plenty of time to get settled in and then take our eclipse glasses out to watch as the moon began to obscure the sun. The journey to totality would take just over an hour. The clouds were moving rapidly, and there were a few short periods of time in which the sun was not visible at all. However, the majority of the time we were able to see it through the clouds. In fact, because of the clouds I was able to take photos without using a filter.

(Before the next solar eclipse, though, I will be purchasing a real camera. iPhones are in no way equipped for this kind of photography, and my photos are largely disappointing. But it’s all I have, so I’m going to share them anyway.)

55 minutes until totality (photo taken through a filter)
27 minutes until totality (photo taken without a filter)

As totality approached, the clouds thickened and I was feeling the disappointment set in. Even with clouds, we’d be able to see and feel it getting darker and cooler. But it wouldn’t be the same.

16 minutes
8 minutes

Luckily, the worst of the clouds cleared away almost as quickly as they’d arrived. With five minutes to go, the sun was once again visible and the shadows began to narrow. The temperature also started to drop noticeably and the sky darkened slightly. It’s pretty amazing that nearly 95% of the sun was covered before there was an appreciable difference in daylight.

5 minutes
1 minute to go!!

Excitedly, we watched the sun slowly disappear until, at last, the moment of totality arrived.

Suddenly, in the middle of the afternoon, it felt like twilight. The temperature dropped another few degrees. We could see a handful of stars and at least one planet – I think it was Venus – overhead. Without the clouds, I’m sure we would have seen dozens more stars.


And despite the lingering clouds, we were able to see the corona for the entire four minutes of totality.

It was amazing!

Totality, with a very blurry and oversized corona, and Venus above and to the right of the sun

Honestly, this was such a cool experience that I’m already considering planning trips to see future total solar eclipses. Apparently this makes me an umbraphile, which literally translates to ‘lover of shadows’ but also means ‘chaser of eclipses.’

That being said, I wouldn’t fly halfway around the world solely to see an eclipse. However, if there’s one happening in a place I want to visit anyway… well, why not? Even if it’s cloudy and we don’t end up seeing anything, we still have the entire rest of the vacation to enjoy!

Iceland 2026, anyone?

Up next: hiking to Long Lake and Lake Isabelle in Colorado

Published by Diana

Hiking, road-tripping, and handstanding my way around the US (currently) and the world (hopefully in the not-so-distant post-COVID future… if such a thing exists)

47 thoughts on “Uncovering my inner umbraphile – total solar eclipse 2024”

  2. It was a great birthday present! I experienced a total eclipse of the sun when I lived in Luxembourg, but unfortunately the sky remained overcast the whole time. With the sudden drop in light, I also noticed a drop in temperature. What surprised me most was to see the panic of the birds flying in all directions.

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    1. You’re not the first person who mentioned the heavier of birds during an eclipse. I wish I’d noticed this! I do imagine it would be confusing for animals to experience this sudden darkness and chill.

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  6. Nice photo of the eclipse, can remember ours from 1999 and the fact that all the birds went quiet as it went dark, like they do at night time! I’ve had one go around plane moment when flying into Amsterdam, our pilot however then proceeded to tell us that this was because they couldn’t lock the landing gear in place!!

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    1. Someone else mentioned the birds thing to me in the aftermath, but I hadn’t noticed. Now I wish I had! Makes you wonder what animals think of a total eclipse and I it confuses them in any way.

      And that’s frightening! I’m glad they got it to work.

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  7. What an incredible phenomenon to witness, Diana. I’m glad you were able to see it happening and that the clouds opened up for you and your family. Sounds like a very merry event you all had.

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  9. It really is amazing how many people planned months and months ahead for this! I got lucky and happened to be with my parents in a place with a decent show, not in the path of totality but decently clear and maybe 96% total. It was very cool! Glad Pat got to have his birthday wish without too much financial pain. And P.S. one of the scariest go-arounds I’ve experienced was in Dallas also. Were you landing at DFW? I think they have more than their fair share there, in part due to windshear issues.

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    1. Oh cool! 96% is pretty close, I’m sure you experienced some changes in light and temperature.

      Scary! Wind shear is terrifying. We were actually flying into Love Field and the captain said it was because we were too close to the plane landing in front of us. I’m not sure how exactly that happened, but thankfully everything was okay in the end.

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  13. Very cool! And glad the weather worked out. I saw a total eclipse when I was in elementary school and I still remember every minute of it. We were in Guatemala for this one where it was only a partial eclipse. Maggie

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    1. Oh wow! That’s a lasting memory. My cousin’s kids (4 and 8) were there with us and they were so excited… I wonder how much of it they’ll remember later in life?

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  14. What an awesome recap! I saw this eclipse in Kingston, Ontario and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I didn’t know that made me an umbraphile, ha! I’m already brainstorming where to catch my next total eclipse, and I need a camera as well because my Samsung did it no justice.

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  15. Good choice from Pat! Seeing the total solar eclipse is a pretty awesome thing to want to do on your birthday. Glad you managed to see it and visit family at the same time. Ha, I had the same thought about actually purchasing a real camera too!

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  16. So happy the weather turned out so you could see it!I didn’t realize people traveled for it ether, but my friends dad was in Mexico to see it with all his fancy camera gear haha. I tried with my real camera, but I think I need a special lens, we also didn’t have 100% totality so that could be another issue.

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    1. Yeah, it’s amazing how much difference it makes even just having 98% coverage vs. totality. The lighting and everything is totally different, so I imagine the lenses needed would be different too.

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  18. Belated happy birthday to Pat – I am glad to see that the trip worked out for you, guys. It’s crazy to think that solar eclipse tourism has become a big business. The rarity of such phenomena and the opportunity to enjoy them simultaneously with others sounds like fun until you have to pay big money due to hotel and flight prices spiking to unseen heights! I’ve read several articles about how many hotels started charging two/ three times the normal rate. It’s so sad to see that so many companies were cashing in on the solar eclipse. Thanks for sharing, and have a good day. Aiva xx

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    1. Thanks, Aiva! It makes sense, right? It’s so rare and so cool that of course people travel to see it. I just hadn’t ever really thought about it or experienced the chaos. I will definitely be planning further ahead next time.

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  19. Ugh, you’re the second blog about the eclipse that I’ve read since it happened, and like the other one, I read it with a mix of excitement and jealousy. I was going to foist my post about my failed eclipse trip on you, but I see that you’ve already read it, so I won’t do that to you. Instead, I’ll thank you for the photos and video, because it’s more than I saw when we tried to see it in person. 😦
    I wish I could have been there, and not just for the big event: “cats, pizza, plenty of coffee and sangria, a backyard bonfire, a hike, and lots of laughter”? That sounds like my kind of gathering!
    Belated happy birthday to Pat. (I notice he didn’t choose northern Minnesota as his birthday destination.) 😉🦟

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    1. It was long enough ago that I didn’t actually remember your post so I went back to look it up. What a frustrating experience, I’m sorry. We were very worried about traffic and getting to the airport on time but I think our flight was soon enough afterwards that we missed the worst of it. Perhaps we’ll see you in 2045 for the total eclipse over Colorado?!

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  21. I’m glad that this eclipse trip worked out for you in the end! I didn’t see it myself and have never seen a full eclipse, but it seems very impressive, definitely a bucket-list experience! Thanks for sharing it with us!

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  22. Glad that it worked out and the audio on the video was wonderful in capturing the excitement. My daughter and her husband and their two kids had tickets from Seattle to San Antonio to witness it and canceled right before because of the forecast, but they got to see the last one with us on the Oregon Coast. Cheers.

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    1. Awww bummer. I’m not sure how the weather was in San Antonio that day, I can’t recall if it was visible or not. But neat that they were able to see the previous one!

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